Electric meter.



No. 678,929. Patented luly 23,-l90l. J. H. BARKER & J. A. EWING.

ELECTRIC METER. A ucmn filed. Apr. 6, 1901.

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Patented July 23, l90l. .1. H. BARKER & .1. A. EWING.

ELECTRIC METER.

(Application filed Aim 6, 1901.)

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(No Model.)

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Patented July 23, I901.

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No. 678,929. Patented July 23, I901. J. H. BARKER &. J. A. EWING.

ELECTRIC METEFL (Application filed Apt. 8 180k); (No Model.) 4 $heets-$heet 4.

1' NORRIS mzw'am. marouma. summon o c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

/ JOHN HENRY BARKER AND JAMES ALFRED EWING, oF CAMBRIDGE,

ENGLAND.

ELECTRIC METER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 678,929, dated July 23, 1901.

' Serial No. 54,659. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN HENRY BARKER and JAMES ALFRED EWING, both subjects of the King of England, and residing at Cam- 5 bridge, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Electric Meters, (for which application has been made in Great Britain under No. 21,478, dated November 27, 1900,) of which the following is a specification.

Our improvements relate to devices by which a record is obtained of the greatest rate at which electric current or electric energy has been supplied through an electric meter during any given period of time. For this purpose we use an indicator which shows by its deflection or displacement the rate of supply of current or energy, and we obtain a record of the greatest rate of such supply by causing contact to take place from time to time between the indicator and a record-surface in the form of a scale-piece or blank, over which.

it moves in the course of its deflection. These contacts are made to take place more or less frequently, but are preferably of short duration, so that during the greater part of the time the indicator may be free to move in response to changes'in the rate of supply and to exhibit the actual rate of supply at any instant. The scale-piece or blank is coated with lampblack, or is adapted in any other convenient way to be marked in a permanent manner by its contact with the indicator, and

the indicator is adapted to mark it. Marks are accordingly made at successive contacts, and the position of the extreme mark serves to show the greatest deflection of the indicator, and consequently the greatest rate of supply. The meter can be set to receive a fresh record by applying a fresh coating of lampblack or otherwise restoring or renewing the surface on which the marks are made. We

arrange this device to form part of a meter designed to register the total quantity of electric supply, and we make use of the mechanical movement which actuates the countingtrain of such meter to produce the necessary contacts from time to time between the indicator and the scale-piece or blank. Thus, for

example, a cam or crank on one of the axles of the counting-train may be connected with the scale-piece or blank in such a manner as to bring it into temporary contact with the indicator once (or oftener) in each revolution of that axle, and thereby cause a periodic record to be made of the position of the indicator so long as the meter is in action. The periodic contact between the scale-piece and the indicator is preferably arranged so that there shall be some relative sliding, with the result that a short line is inscribed at each contact instead of a mere dot.

The device may be used in connection with any suitable indicator of current or energy. By introducing into an electric meter of the integrating type any convenient form of am pore-gage if the meter measures current or wattm'eter if the meter measures energy, and registering its deflections in the manner described, we make the meter serve to record maximum rate of supply as well as total quantity of supply. In particular, we apply the device to the type of meter described in our United States Patent No. 643,392, dated February 13, 1900, where the indicator is actuated by the drag between a. revolving disk and a pivoted or suspended magnetic brake. When this method of registering the deflection of the indicator is adopted, we dispense with the ratchet and pawl which is there em ployed to hold the indicator in its position of greatest deflection. I

In cases where the indicator is liable to oscillate in consequence of sudden changes in the amount of current or energy we may use a dash-pot or similar contrivance, or we may arrange the periodic contacts between the in dicator and the scale-piece or blank to take place in such a manner that the contact serves to apply sufficient friction to check oscillation before the record of position is inscribed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation showing portions of an electric-supply meter provided with one form of recording device according to this invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partly in section, looking in the direction of the arrow in Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the counting mechanism and recording device. tion of the-same looking in the'di'rec'tion of the arrow in Fig. 3, the recording device being in another portion; and Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammaticallya portion of a modified form of recording device. Figs. Hand 7 are side elevations illustrating'm'odified constructions of recording devices, also according to this invention.

Figs. 3, 4:, 5, 6, and 7 are drawn to a larger scale than Figs. 1 and2.

Like letters indicate like parts throughoutthe drawings.

The meter illustrated in the drawings, by' wayof example only, is of the kind described 1 in our prior specification above mentioned? The current or energy supplied causes the ro-- tat'ion'of anarmature A, which-with its fieldmagnet coils 'B' is indicated in chain-linesin' Figs." 1 and 2, thefield-magnetcoils'beingsu-pported, together with'other stationary parts of Attached to thelower part of the armature-spindle A is the meter, upon'a fra'meB.

diskO of'cond'uctin g material, which is caused by the rotation of the armature to revolve *between the poles Dof magnets D; These magnets are secur'edto a cross-bar D suspended" or pivoted between brackets D soth-at the magnetic system, which in a well-known way for'm'sa magnetic brake for the revolving conductor O, can turn about its axis 'ofsuspension against the action of a spring or other This spring is not shown" controlling force. in thed-rawings,-as it forms no part of the presy ent invention. a tube E, fixed to'the cross-bar D and merely consist ofa straight wire'forming-the'suspe'nsion for the magnetic bI'&k6,'fl16 torsion of the wire acting as the controlling force. 'An adj ustahle arm E is attached to the tube E-zand Y armature-spindle A is provided with a worm A which gears with a Worm-wheel G upon a spindle G, and'from this spindle G are driven, through a train of gears H, pointers H,which,

traveling around their dials, indicatethe totalamount'of current or energywhich passes through the meter.

Pivoted, as at J, to a portion of the frame H whichcarries the counting-train, is a spindle J, bearing at each end a lever J The front ends of the levers J are connected by a pin J uponwhich is supported a record-strip J terialcelluloid, for example-and the upper portion, as indicated by the horizontal lines in Fig. 1, is coated with, say, lampblack or otherwise rendered susceptible of receiving a mark, while its lower portion bearsequa'lly- Fig. 4 is a side eleva It might, however, be within 1 This strip may be of any convenient maspaced division-lines. The back end of one of tlie levers J is joined by a link J to an arm K, projecting from a lever K. The 1ever K is pivoted at one end, as at K Fig. 1, and at the other end is provided with a weight K and this weight acting throughthe link J? tends to' keep the" record-strip J 4 in its highest position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Upon the spindle G is a cam G and as the spindle revolves, driven from the Worm A on the armature-spindle A, the cam G2 lifts the weighted lever K and causes the record-strip to descendinto the position indicated in Fig. 4. Awedge-like projection or inclined surface H is attached to the frame H and this projection causes the record-strip J to advance and make a rubbing contact withthe pointer F" as it descends; The lampblack is scratched ofi at the line-of contact'be'tween thepointer F andthe record strip J and'consequentlya'recor'd-isobtained of the greatest deflection ofthe pointer, which is a measure of the greatest demand upon the meter since the'time the StIip'WaS placed in position. To set the meter for another record, the strip may be reblacked or another strip substituted for it. It should be noted that when thereoord'strip J is-in its highest position it isclear "of the pointer F, which can-consequently move unimpeded;

It ispreferred to make the' record-strip J whatmay be termed a duplex strip-that is,to make only the-upper portion of its surface susceptible of receiving a mark, while the lower-portion is clear or merely provided with permanent division-lines. VV'hen the strip begins tod-escend, the lower or unblacked portion first comes lightly into contact with the-pointer, and the slight friction thus introduced serves to damp any oscilla tion of the'pointer before'therecordis made upon the blacked portion of the strip. It should be noticed that when the record-surface is in'its raised position the amount of deflection of thepo-inter may be read off by means of the division-lines on the lower portion' of the strip.

The record-strip J and the pointers H, with their dials, can be inspected in the usual way through a window L in the'meter-case. This WindOWL' also provides access to the record-strip for the purpose of reblackening it. A useful medium for blackening the recordstrip is a mixture of fine lampblack and spirit, the film thus formed being readily removed by'the slight frictional contact between the strip and the pointer.

When a recording device according to this invention is applied to a current or energy indicator, the pointer of which moves through a considerable angle, there may be a tendency for the downwardly moving recordstrip to displace the pointer from the position it takes up due to the current passing through the instrument. To obviate this disadvantage in such cases, the record-stri p J may be provided with fine vertical corrugations, so that the tip of the pointer when in contact with the record-strip will enter one of the grooves and stay in its proper angular position while the record strip descends. Fig. 5 illustrates diagrammatically one form of such a device, the vertical lines indicating the fine corrugations, while the horizontal lines, as before, represent the blackened portion of the strip.

Various alterations maybe made in the details of the apparatus above described without departing from the spirit of this invention. For instance, a spring might be substituted for the weight K to raise the recordstrip when the lever K is allowed by the cam G to descend. Again, although the inclined surface H forms a convenient means for bringing the record-surface into contact with the indicator, other devices may be employed for that purpose. For instance, the strip J might be held at the bottom, as well as at the top, by levers, which, assuming a more horizontal position during the descent of the strip, would bring it into contact with the pointer. Fig. 6 illustrates a construction of this kind. The strip J is pivoted to two arms J which are themselves pivoted to part of the frame H One of the arms J 6 is operated through the link J as in the construction previously described, and, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6, when the arms J are caused to assume a more horizontal position the record-strip J is brought forward into contact with the pointer F.

Although the drawings show one particular form of supply-meter arranged according to this invention with a rate-indicator and a record-surface, it is to be understood that any kind of integrating electric meter may be used, the integrating mechanism fulfilling the additional function of bringing a record-surface and a current or energy indicator into intermittent contact. Thus although Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged views of portions of the meter shown in Figs. 1 and 2, yet they may also be regarded as forming part of any integrating electric meter, the counting-train H being driven by the current or energy passing through the meter in any convenient way and the pointer F being a current or energy indicator not necessarily moved by a suspended magnetic brake. Again, although it is convenient to employ a movable recordstrip, the pointer might be moved into contact with a stationary record-surface, say by the action of a cam-roller or bridge-piece actuated from the counting-train. Such a construction is illustrated in Fig. 7, where a record-strip J 7 is fixed to part of the frame H The link J 5 in this form of apparatus is joined to one end of a bell-crank lever J of which there are two, pivoted, as at J one on either side of the frame 11 The ends of these levers are joined, as by a rod J 9, this red being in front of the pointer F. When the link J is raised, an action which may be brought about by mechanism similar to that shown in the other figures for moving the record-strip, the rod J is carried inward by the action of the boll-crank levers J and the pointer F, which is made sufficiently flexible, is brought into contact with the stationary record-strip J making a mark thereon.

Instead of the division-lines being marked upon the lower part of the record-strip, they may, if desired, be upon the front plate of the counting mechanism, so that they are seen through the lower transparent portion of the strip.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In'an electric meter the combination of integrating mechanism, an indicator operated by the current or energy passing through the meter and showing the rate of supply of that current or energy, a record-surface, and means operated by the integrating mechanism to bring the record-surface and the indicater into intermittent contact substantially as set forth.

2. In an electric meter the combination of a counting-train, an indicator operated by the current or energy passing through the meter and showing the rate of supply of that current or energy, a record-surface and an operative connection between the record-surface and the counting-train for the purpose set forth.

3. In an electric meter the combination of a counting-train, an indicatoroperated by the current or energy passing through the meter and showing the rate of supply of that current or energy, a pivoted record-strip, an operative connection between such strip and the counting-train and an inclined surface acting as a guide to the strip substantially as set forth.

4:. In an electric meter the combination of a counting-train, an indicator operated by the current or energy passing through the meter and showing the rate of supply of that current or energy, a pivoted record-strip comprising an upper portion susceptible of receiving a mark, and alower portion which comes first into contact with the indicator, an operative connection between such strip and the counting-train and an inclined surface acting as a guide to the strip substantially as set forth.v

5. In an electricmeter the combination of a conductor caused to revolve by the current or energy passing through the meter, at pivoted or suspended magnetic brake in the field of which the conductor revolves, an indicator operated by said brake to show the rate of supply of currentor energy passing through the meter, at counting-train registering the total amount of current or energy which is IIO passed through the meter, a cam upon a spinnames to this specification in thepresence of dle of the counting-train, a pivoted lever op two subscribing witnesses;

erated by the cam, a pivoted record-strip and JOHN HENRY BARKER.

an operative connection between the said JAMES ALFRED EWING. 5 strip and the pivoted lever substantially as Vitnesses:

and for the purpose set forth. PERCY M. MARSHALL,

In testimony whereof we have signedour R. A; M.-BOWD. 

